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Top Ways To Celebrate Lunar New Year In Denver

January 20, 2014 6:00 AM

(credit: Joyous Chinese Cultural Center)

(credit: Joyous Chinese Cultural Center)

The Lunar New Year is January 31, one of the largest holidays in many Asian cultures. The Chinese New Year is traditionally celebrated with lots of amazing food and plenty of song and dance, which is similar to how the holiday is celebrated in other cultures as well. No, you don’t have to buy an expensive plane ticket to find a few great ways to celebrate this holiday (and the culture) right here in Denver. Take a look at a few of these fun ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Denver.

Celebrate the Chinese New Year, year of the horse, with the Joyous Chinese Cultural Center. The celebration is at the Mission Hills Church on January 31 and runs from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Learn more about this beautiful culture and watch the dance, music and other traditional activities as you ring in the New Year. The Joyous Chinese Cultural Center has celebrated the Chinese cultural community since 1996 and seeks to provide support to children and adults of all backgrounds. This celebration is sure to be a great way to support this important organization, while also learning more about this annual tradition.

Denver hasn’t had a designated Chinatown since 1940 when the original “Hop Alley” was demolished in lower downtown. However, there is an excellent span of shops and restaurants along Federal Boulevard between Alameda and Mississippi. Visit the Far East Center and you’ll enjoy plenty of bakeries, markets and jewelry stores in addition to some of the best Asian cuisine in town. Businesses line both sides of the street for about one mile.

Super Star Asian Cuisine has been voted among the best Chinese restaurants in Denver time and time again. It’s mainly because of the amazing selection of dim sum offered at the local eatery. You’ll find traditional dim sum here, served on cards with all of the classic items like shrimp dumplings, siu Mai, steamed buns, fried items and so much more. You can even get some more rare treats like shark fin soup and steamed chicken feet. There is really something for everyone on the menu. Super Star Asian Cuisine has been so popular that it recently had to expand just to accommodate all of the happy people wanting to dine here.

Why not celebrate the Chinese New Year by learning a bit of Mandarin Chinese? With just a few classes, you’ll be able to start with small conversations, with simple phrases like “thank you,” “it’s nice to meet you,” and you can grow your language skills from there. The Colorado Chinese Language Center offers many classes and promises that learning Mandarin is not that hard. The tones are different, but with the great instruction offered by the teachers at this school, you are sure to pick it up faster than you thought you would.

There are a lot of meetup groups available for pretty much any interest you could possibly have. The Colorado East Asian meetup group is a large group that caters to anyone with an interest in Chinese, Japanese or Korean culture. You’ll find all sorts of fun ways to learn more about the cultures with this group. From language classes to dance classes, there are many different events that this group is offering. Or, explore Meetup.com for a few other Chinese culture-related groups and expand your social circle as you learn more about the culture and discuss your findings with other people with the same interests.

Deborah Flomberg is a theater professional, freelance writer and Denver native. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.